Stray Thoughts
by Tiniwiel
Summary: Jack Sparrow remembers a former lover while trapped in the Port Royal jail cell and we see another reason for his wanting revenge on Barbossa. Set during Curse of the Black Pearl.


Author's Note: I wrote this one shot a long time ago, just after the first Pirates movie came out, if I remember correctly. I wrote it up quick and posted it, and though I did a quick edit about two years ago, I finally sat down and really looked at it. I hope it's alright and I do hope you like the new version!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize, Disney does. They own just about everything, don't they?

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The darkness that overtook Jack in the blacksmith slowly lifted only to reveal a throbbing pain in the back of his head. He clumsily brought up his hand to feel the hard lump beneath his bandanna, only to find his arm sore.

That stupid boy really could fight, despite all Jack's swaggering and bragging earlier. Wincing, he sat up and took in his surroundings. He had managed to get himself locked in a Port Royal jail cell, the exact opposite of his original plan. Although, as he fought his headache to think about it, his original plan escaped him at the moment.

Staggering more than usual, Jack stood up and tested the rest of his heavy limbs. His feet drug in the wet straw as he made his way to the wall opposite of the iron prison bars to rest before coming up with an insane yet brilliant plan to escape.

Piercing whistles jabbed right between his eyes and Jack watched in amusement as a group of poor excuses for pirates tried in vain to coax a mutt with keys in its mouth toward them. Jack's hand, less sore than when he first woke up, slipped off his lap and landed on something soft, something not belonging in a cell. Glancing down, he saw his hat crumpled at his feet, mud and straw sticking out from its creases.

He bent to pick it up and brushed off the debris, surprised the fine soldiers of Port Royal would return at least one of his precious effects to him when they locked him up. Grinning at his good fortune, Jack settled into the stone wall below the minuscule barred window and propped the hat just so to shield his eyes from the setting sun's glare.

Taking a deep breath, Jack's mind wandered to the events that led to this painful imprisonment in hopes that retracing his steps would lead to a way out. He guessed his pirate nature was the reason why his rescue of the young Elizabeth Swann went unappreciated. The smug smirk he shot the uptight commodore as she wrapped her slender arms around his waist didn't help. He also knew the straight-laced Norrington was going to relish in seeing the rope burn his neck. Nearly every pirate port buzzed with that man's hatred of their race.

They certainly made a pair, the commodore and his heart's desire, though Jack highly doubted a woman with such spirit as Miss Swann would want to tie herself a man such as that. Then again, would any woman want that for a husband?

Women, speaking of, were bad luck to any pirate, especially Jack. And though he tried to change his thoughts to another subject, but in vain. Soon Jack's mind was full of his worst case of luck; the woman who pried away the secrets he kept so close to his chest. He fell so hard and so fast that she had him falling over himself in order to please her before he realized he had gone too far and lost his head when needed it most.

Jack winced again, this pain coming form this heart. He tried to convince himself a long time ago that it was not his fault. There was nothing he could have done to prevent the murder of the woman he loved.

These words were tired and worn out, but they reverberated within him as though they were new. _It wasn't your fault._

That was a lie.

If he only gave the bearings on the day Barbossa demanded, she would still be alive. Though, he doubted that would have helped his current situation any. The crew still would have mutinied and, most likely on Barbossa's orders, would have kept her on board to do what they wanted with her, pirate or not. He still would have ended up on that god forsaken island, leading to this unfortunate imprisonment. And still without her.

Soon memories of her teasing smile, her waving ebony hair and her laughing violet eyes floated behind his closed lids. The feel of her soft lips on his tingled his now numb lips, her warm embrace enveloped his cold frame only to leave him again just as quick.

The sight of her beautiful crimson blood staining the decks of the Pearl haunted the edge of his consciousness. The cracks of his breaking heart threatened to stop his already ragged breathing.

He thought of Barbossa, the man who murdered her, who stole his ship and his life. Hatred coursed through his veins, and he struggled to keep his sanity, resisted the urge to lunge himself at the iron bars that kept him entrapped in his own mind.

He thought of the bullet, the small piece of metal with her name carved into it, his only form of occupation besides drinking as he waited for the boats to come to the isand. Soon it would lodge itself in Barbossa's black heart and stop its beating forever.

The whistles of the desperate pirates brought Jack form this sinister reverie.

"You keep doing that forever and the dog is never going to move." The reply hardly filtered through, the images of his revenge the man who ruined his life that would not be swept away. A grin spread across his face as he saw Barbossa's black blood seeped over the treasure he so greedily sought while on Jack's ship.

Jack swore to the only woman he loved as her life stained his hands and clothes that he would avenge her death. He would not rest until until his enemy lay dead and by his hand.

With a confident tug of his weathered hat, a plan unfolded in Jack's mind and his lips formed around the words she would always cry as she stood beside him at the helm of the Black Pearl.

"Bring me that horizon."

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